Bern Baby Bern

Today I woke up with a sore throat, and it’s not because I went to a rock concert or anything of the sort, but because I went to Bern yesterday. Bern is the capital of Switzerland and about a 2 hour train ride from Geneva. And I know you’re all thinking, “why would she get a sore throat from going to Bern”. Well, the group that my exchange is through booked this excursion to Bern for all the Ontario students (the kids who I flew here with) as a way to explore Switzerland’s capital and make more friends with the students. When they originally told us me about the excursion I thought it was going to be a little awkward, as I had only meet these student once on the plane ride here. Since we didn’t have a lot of time to get to know each other, I didn’t feel like I had made any amazing friends, just one girl named Sam, who I sat next to on the plane, so I least I knew I could talk to someone. So I though this whole thing was going to be an awful disaster, but it turned out to be the complete opposite! When I got to the train satiation and met up with the group everyone immediately started talking to each other and exchanging stories of their experiences thus far. When I say talking, I really mean yelling because everyone was so excited to talk in English, which pretty much continued for the whole day, and thus why my throat hurts! It was really a lot of fun to talk to all the different students and listen to their stories about their host families! It was also quite strange because almost every story someone said I had one that was almost the exact same; it’s like every Swiss family is the same and has the same habits and way of living. Although I only really knew 1 person, I feel like I made really good friends with a few people that I could see my self, not only hanging out with them while I’m here, but also keeping in touch once back in Canada. I’m so glad that I had this trip and this time to talk to all the students, I feel like it revived me. Not being able to communicate 100% well in French, I feel like I was losing myself and my personality because I don’t know how to be funny and sarcastic in French and I was beginning to blend in, and that is something I don’t like to do! Seeing everyone and talking so much made me excited again and I finally felt like my crazy self again. Although it was so much fun I was worried that when we said our goodbyes at the end of the day and I went back to hearing and speaking French I would feel a little homesick, but it seemed to do the opposite; the whole day excited me and reminded me why I’m here.